How accurate is Madden ?

Did you catch the game last night? Everybody knew the Brett Favre backstory, but according to the Madden NFL 10 sim, the night was supposed to be about Adrian “Purple Jesus” Peterson. However, #4 owned the spotlight, as he put on a stunning performance that made you forget that he had a hair full of grays. As a self-professed “Madden-aholic”, I always check every week’s simulations, but rarely have I gone back to follow up the comparison with real game stats. Lets look at the Madden simulation vs the Monday Night Football showdown between the Vikings and the Packers:

While the winner was predicted correctly and the spread of seven points was kept, the star of the game was not predicted accurately. Before you jump on the bandwagon of doubting Madden however, check out how they did with last year’s Super Bowl:

Not bad, not bad at all. In fact, before the unthinkable win the Giants pulled off against the Patriots, Madden had accurately picked the Super Bowl winner for five years in a row. Week 4 Madden NFL 10 simulations weren’t so bad either. The title went 12-14 picking the games this week (Games missed: Cowboys vs Broncos/ Titans vs Jaguars). So, next time you want to let it ride, you might want to consult your local neighborhood console.